Police: Report of shooting at Nevada middle schoolSPARKS, Nev. (AP) — A student at a Nevada middle school opened fire on campus just before the starting bell Monday, wounding two boys and killing a teacher who was trying to protect other children, Sparks police and the victim's family members said. Twenty to thirty students witnessed the tragedy at Sparks Middle School that also left the lone suspected gunman dead, police said. It's unclear whether the student committed suicide, but authoriti...

Authorities capture 2 Fla. prisoners at motelPANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Two convicted killers who were freed from prison by phony documents were captured together without incident Saturday night at a motel here, authorities said. Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker, both 34, were not armed when they were taken into custody at the Coconut Grove Motor Inn in a touristy area near putt-putt courses and go-kart tracks. Several hours earlier, their families had held a news conference in Orla...

Veterans are flocking to college as wars wind down TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Adam Fisher isn’t your typical college freshman. At 25, he’s older than most of his classmates. He’s married, too. And while most of his fellow students spent the past couple years in high school, Fisher was dodging bullets and roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now a civilian, Fisher is trying to make the transition from the battlefields to the classrooms of the University of Toledo. About two months into a new missio...

Sex assault case expected to get fresh start MARYVILLE, Mo. (AP) — The case of a 14-year-old girl who says she was raped by an older boy from her Missouri high school and left passed out on her porch in freezing temperatures is expected to get a fresh start under a special prosecutor. A special prosecutor will be able to launch his own investigation, interview witnesses and work independently from the local prosecutor who’s faced intense scrutiny for dropping felony charges in the case l...

Parks open, workers back in office after shutdown Barriers came down at federal memorials and National Park Service sites and thousands of furloughed federal workers — relieved but wary — returned to work across the country Thursday after 16 days off the job due to the partial government shutdown. Among the sites reopening were Yosemite National Park in California, the Smithsonian Institution's network of popular museums, and the World War II memorial in Washington, which had been the scene o...

Congress votes to end shutdown, avoid US default WASHINGTON (AP) — Up against a deadline, Congress passed and sent a waiting President Barack Obama legislation late Wednesday night to avoid a threatened national default and end the 16-day partial government shutdown, the culmination of an epic political drama that placed the U.S. economy at risk. The Senate voted first, a bipartisan 81-18 at midevening. That cleared the way for a final 285-144 vote in the Republican-controlled House about tw...

Senate votes to avoid US default,; House nextUp against a deadline, Congress raced to pass legislation Wednesday night to avoid a threatened national default and end the 16-day partial government shutdown in the culmination of an epic political drama that placed the U.S. economy at risk. The Senate passed the measure on a bipartisan margin of 81-18 at midevening. That cleared the way for a final, late-night vote in the Republican-controlled House on the legislation, which hewed strictly ...

Florida bullying case: girls aged 12 and 14 charged WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) — After 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick committed suicide last month, one of her tormenters continued to make comments about her online, even bragging about the bullying, a sheriff said Tuesday. The especially callous remark hastened the arrest of a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl who were primarily responsible for bullying Rebecca, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. They were charged with stalking and released to...

On the edge: House shutdown plan fails; now Senate WASHINGTON (AP) — Time growing desperately short, Senate leaders took command of efforts to avert a Treasury default and end the partial government shutdown Tuesday night after a last big attempt by House Republicans abruptly collapsed. Aides to both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, expressed revived optimism about chances for a swift agreement — by Wednesday at the latest — that could pass both hou...

Obama admin. projected strong health plan signups WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration’s internal projections called for strong enrollment in the states in the first year of new health insurance markets, according to unpublished estimates obtained by The Associated Press. Whether those expectations will bear out is unclear. Technology glitches have frustrated many consumers trying to sign up for coverage online, and efforts to upgrade and repair healthcare.gov are ongoing. But the estim...

Poll: Half of older workers delay retirement plans CHICAGO (AP) — There was a time when Tom Sadowski thought he’d stop working after turning 65 earlier this year. But he’s put off retirement for at least five years — and now anticipates continuing to do some work afterward. In an illuminating sign of changing times and revised visions of retirement, an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll released Monday finds older Americans like Sadowski not only are delaying their r...

Libyan pleads not guilty to terrorism charges NEW YORK (AP) — An alleged al-Qaida member who was snatched off the streets in Libya and interrogated for a week aboard an American warship pleaded not guilty to bombing-related charges Tuesday in a case that has renewed the debate over how quickly terrorism suspects should be turned over to the U.S. courts. Despite calls from Republicans in Congress to send him to Guantanamo Bay for indefinite interrogation, Abu Anas al-Libi, also known as Na...

Fitch puts US credit rating on negative watch WASHINGTON (AP) — The Fitch credit rating agency has warned that it is reviewing the U.S. government’s AAA credit rating for a possible downgrade, citing the impasse in Washington that has raised the threat of a default on the nation’s debt. Fitch placed the U.S. credit rating on negative watch Tuesday, a step that would precede an actual downgrade. The agency said it expects to conclude its review within six months. The announcement comes as ...

Default looming, Day 14 of shutdown, no solutionThe United States moved perilously closer to an economy-rattling default and a partial government shutdown entered its 14th day as Senate Democratic and Republican leaders remained at odds over spending in their last-ditch negotiations to end the crises facing the nation. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke by phone Sunday but failed to agree on a deal to raise the nation's borrowing authority ...

Ex-cop killed after firing at US courthouse in WVa WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) — A retired police officer armed with an assault weapon and a handgun fired up to two dozen shots at a U.S. courthouse in West Virginia on Wednesday before police returned fire and killed him, police said. Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger identified the gunman Thomas J. Piccard, 55, of Bridgeport, Ohio. He was a retired Wheeling police officer. Schwertfeger did not say whether Piccard used both weapons during the a...

Denver parents accused of keeping 4 boys in filth DENVER (AP) — A Denver couple accused of keeping four malnourished young children in a filthy apartment pleaded guilty to neglecting three other children under strikingly similar conditions in 2006, court records show. The parents, Wayne Sperling and Lorinda Bailey, appeared in court Tuesday on felony child-abuse charges. Authorities say their four boys, ages 2 to 6, lived in a rank-smelling apartment littered with cat feces, flies and urine. ...

Obama, Boehner trade barbs, hints of compromise WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner offered hints of possible compromise but also traded heated rhetoric Tuesday, a frustratingly inconclusive combination that left the eight-day partial government shutdown firmly in place and the threat of an unprecedented national default drawing closer. “There’s a crack there,” Boehner said of the impasse near the end of a day of maneuvering at the White House and the Cap...

TB probe widens in Vegas after mom, baby deaths LAS VEGAS (AP) — Health officials urged tuberculosis testing for hundreds of babies, family members and staff who were at a Las Vegas neonatal intensive care unit this past summer, saying they want to take extra precautions after the death of a mother and her twin babies and the infection of more than 26 people. Authorities with the Southern Nevada Health District said Tuesday that they’re working to contact parents of about 140 babies who wer...

Questionable design blamed for health website woes WASHINGTON (AP) — A decision by the Obama administration to require that consumers create online accounts before they can browse health overhaul insurance plans appears to have led to many of the glitches that have frustrated customers, independent experts say. Most e-commerce websites — as well as medicare.gov — are not designed to require those merely browsing to set up accounts. But it’s one of the first steps on healthcare.gov. Consumers t...

Autopsy says Wash. soldier was stabbed in heart TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington-based soldier who died over the weekend was stabbed in the heart as he was walking away from a deescalating confrontation, prosecutors said Tuesday. In charging documents, prosecutors said that an autopsy determined that Spc. Tevin Geike, 20, suffered a deep stab wound to his chest that cut through a rib and plunged through his heart. Prosecutors charged Jeremiah Hill, 23, with first-degree murder, saying he a...